Any practicing RD's or similar that could help me with a school project? page

[jennf]

Hi,

15 years after getting my BA in Communication I'm back in school pondering a Masters in Nutrition. I am currently taking a class called "Careers in Nutrition" so I can see what I would actually be getting myself into. One of our projects is to interview someone who earned a degree in Nutrition and is working in the field, or at least a closely related field.

I'd really like to interview someone with a paleo/primal slant so that I can get a feel for the roadblocks I will face due to having an alternative view of proper human nutrition. Unfortunately, I can't find such a person in my area to interview.

I am not allowed do the interview over email and must do a phone call for this project, although I would gladly email you the questions I will be asking ahead of time. There aren't that many and it shouldn't take very long.

Please let me know if you would be willing to help me with this project. You can either respond to this post or send me a PM.

I've got several weeks before this project is due, so there's no rush on this end.

Thanks so much for your help!

Jenn

[jennf]

Bumping just in case...

[marthat]

I'm a practicing RD, but in Canada. Does that count for your purposes? I work in Long Term Care, Geriatrics, but I've done a lot of different things in the past 28 years since graduating. I can help you out if you like. PM me with more details.

Martha

[Balance]

I was in a very similar situation to yours. I graduated with a BS in Finance in 2004. I wanted a career change and I was gearing up to do an MS in Nutrition. I even took anatomy, physiology, nutrition, microbiology, organic chemistry as pre-requisites to make the transition easier. During my nutrition final I did a paper on the paleo diet and the teacher totally gunned me down and put me on the spot in front of the class. Then I had a counseling session with the director of the masters program and she convinced me that an MS in Nutrition wasn't right for me. She asked me a lot about my personal preferences and what my philosophy on nutrition was. And she asked if I was on a paleo/whole foods diet. When I responded yes, she told me that if I pursued a RD license and worked for a hospital, HMO or PPO, or any skilled nursing facilities and I pushed the paleo/whole foods diet over the diet recommended by the USDA's "My Pyramid" I could eventually get my RD license taken away. I could always open up my own practice as you cannot obviously lose your MS degree. But with the current state of nutrition/dietetics in the United States I wouldn't be able to use a RD license unless I pushed the USDA nutrition philosophy.

So I ended up not going into the MS of Nutrition program and instead enrolled in a holistic nutrition college at Bauman College (About - Bauman College). This is the same college that Diane SanFilippo of Balanced Bites attended. (She was a year ahead of me in the program). When I am done with this program (I am halfway through it), I will most pursue a master's in Kinesiology. Ultimately want to be able to consult people with a holistic whole foods approach and also be able to train them physically and I think the combination of schooling that I am enrolled in will be the best route. Best of luck to you, its a tough choice and I wrestled for 2 years about whether or not I wanted to do an MS in Nutrition program. After taking the initial nutrition course as a pre-req to the MS program, I knew that I wouldn't be able to bite my tongue and ingest all of the CW dogma for the next two years and potentially for the rest of my career.

[jennf]

Balance, I totally hear what you're saying, and it's something I wrestle with every day. I'm still working things out and talking to folks on both sides of the argument to see where I fit. In the meantime I've been taking the science prerequisites that I missed the first time around and I know they'll be helpful no matter what path I take.

Thanks for your input. I really appreciate it.

[jennf]

I'm a practicing RD, but in Canada. Does that count for your purposes? I work in Long Term Care, Geriatrics, but I've done a lot of different things in the past 28 years since graduating. I can help you out if you like. PM me with more details.

Martha

Thanks, Martha! I'm not sure if I can interview someone in Canada or not. I've got class tomorrow and will check with the instructor. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Thanks again,

Jenn